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Football

Queen awards Nyamweya OBE

NAIROBI, Kenya, April 1- Football Kenya Federation (FKF) boss, Sam Nyamweya, is set to be conferred the Order of the British Empire according to information from Buckingham Palace.

Nyamweya, who took over the federation on October 28, 2011, will be honoured “For the exemplary services to Kenyan football and steering the county’s game back on track after a decade and a half of despondence.”

The FKF boss will however, not travel to Buckingham Palace to receive his OBE.

“Only the recipients of the British Empire Medal do not receive a summons to an investiture, owing to the very large numbers involved, and recipients instead receive their decorations from their Lord Lieutenant, or in the case of military medals, from a General Commanding Officer,” the Palace added.

“I’m so excited about this award and I wish to thank Queen Elizabeth II for recognising me in this special way. For me, this is victory for Kenyan football, not Nyamweya alone.

“I will issue a more comprehensive statement when it sinks in but for now, I cannot express my joy in words,” the stunned football chief who has come for harsh criticism in his time as a football administrator having fought to wrest control of the federation for more than a decade.

News Nyamweya would be receiving the accolade conferred to among other illustrious Kenyans, industrialist and philanthropist, Dr Manu Chandaria, spread like bushfire although not everyone was enthused.

“This is a mockery of the whole honours system. I think those who advised Nyamweya to receive the OBE did not tell the Palace the truth,” his suspended deputy, Sam Shollei, quipped when reached by Capital Sport.

“We will wait for communication from the British High Commission before fashioning our response but this will be a honour not only to Nyamweya but the country at large,” Commissioner for Sport, Gordon Olouch, added.

British honorary decorations and awards are occasionally granted to people from other countries that have made a significant contribution to relations between the United Kingdom and their own country.

These awards are granted on the advice of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is the most junior and most populous order of chivalry in the British and other Commonwealth honours systems.

Often, if incorrectly, it is shortened to the simpler “Order of the British Empire” and was established on June 4, 1917 by King George V.

It comprises five classes, in civil and military divisions, the most senior two of which make the recipient either a knight if male, or dame.

There is also the related British Empire Medal, whose recipients are affiliated with, but not members of, the Order.